Chapter 21: On the Offensive
Ash ran to catch up with his Pokémon who were either taking out the New Magma sentries or getting into position to assault the main group. The sounds of Groudon and Kyogre battling could be heard in the distance, even after going through many battles in his time the sound of this fight was still unnerving. Ash came across a patch of forest that had been blasted away leaving a deep black scar all the way to the ocean, as he ran across it he got a glimpse of the destruction that had occurred.
The two legendries had completely reshaped the landscape, they had only been fighting for about ten minutes and he didn't even recognise the area anymore. If this kept going Ash wondered if they would eventually move away from this location and make their way to a city. That thought alone drove Ash to move faster. As he exited into a slight clearing he saw Greninja standing on top of one of New Magma's grunts after knocking him out.
"Is that all the sentries?" Ash asked getting a nod from Greninja before Sceptile leap down from the trees having cleared his section of the forest.
"Alright then let's get a closer look at their operation." Ash pointed forward.
Together the three of them moved slowly and quietly through the remainder of the foliage until they came to the top of a hill. From there they could see the machine that was being used to control Groudon, but by its current actions Ash wondered if they still had any control. There were a large number of personnel surrounding the machine, most likely security and a group or scientists imputing commands.
Ash heard some rustling behind him upon turning around he saw Gabite walking up to them followed by Krookadile who still had Pikachu in his arms. Charizard was in the air waiting for the attack to begin before he would fly in to provide assistance. Ash sent Sceptile and Greninja to the right and left sides, Gabite underneath the ground and instructed Krookadile to only intervene if it was absolutely necessary while he would go in from the rear. Ash now had a multiple point ambush set in place, ready to attack from the sides, behind, below and above. He didn't have the luxury of waiting around with two legendries going at it right in front of him, Ash lifted his hand and ordered the attack.
Captain Gregson and his team had returned with the additional power sources and linked them to Lund's machine, Fane only hoped that it was enough to control the creatures which were rampaging out of control.
"Professor can you bring them under control?" Fane questioned his calm exterior beginning to fade.
"Once it's up to full power I'll at least be able to bring them to a standstill, then their power levels will drop and I'll have both of them under our command." Lund spoke as he frantically fiddled with the controls.
"Good then we can finally get back on track." Fane sighed as he leant back into his chair.
Fane saw movement to his right, as he looked over he saw a Sceptile slide out of the tree line and rush one of the guards slamming his Leaf Blade across his face. As the guard cried out Fane heard another scream to his left, as he turned around he saw a Greninja had knocked out one of the guards on that side as well and was pouncing on another. Suddenly the guard in front of him cried out as the head and arms of a Gabite appeared out of the ground grabbed his ankles and pulled him below the surface till only his head remained above the ground.
"We're under attack!" Gregson yelled but three of his men had already been taken out.
As the grunts started to mobilize Charizard swooped down from in front of them and grabbed two of them in his arms, he then continued forward while rising just above the tree line before dropping the two terrified men. As they fell through the trees their cries of pain could be heard as they hit the branches till they both collapsed on the ground and groaned weakly.
At that moment Ash ran forward out of the tree line punching a lone guard in the temple sending him to the ground, he kept running straight for the machine controlling Groudon and Kyogre. Sceptile and Greninja were going toe to toe with the remainder of the armed guards and Charizard was coming in for another pass but what Ash had to worry about was the large Admin in front of him.
"Alright Ketchum bring it!" Gregson snickered as he blocked the path of the young man.
The Admin was definitely a head taller than Ash and thickly built but Ash didn't let his size intimidate him. He jumped straight forward and went into a jumping side kick, Gregson didn't expect this and brought both arms up blocking the kick but the forward momentum of Ash's blow was more powerful then Gregson predicted and he slide back on his heels. Ash took advantage of Gregson's stunned state and as he fell however threw his fist right into Gregson's cheek throwing him backwards. Gregson's head hit the back of Lund's machine knocking him out right beside Fane who got up and stared Ash down.
"I'm guessing you're the leader?" Ash stared back even with the Pokémon and guards fighting all around them and the two giant legendries shaking the earth in the background.
"How did you make it this far?" Fane asked infuriated. "How did you get past my men and my best agent?"
"If you're referring to May she was the only one who put up an actual fight but forget that. You're going to return Groudon and Kyogre back to normal, destroy this machine, turn yourselves into the authorities, and you're going to do it now." Ash said commandingly.
"And what makes you think I'll do any of those things, I currently possess the power of Groudon. One command and I could wipe out all your Pokémon in one move, what could you possibly do against that sort of power." Fane smirked even as the last of his men were cut down around him.
Ash walked forward slowly keeping his eyes locked with Fane, when he was half an arms distance away from the older man Ash slowly raised one arm with two fingers extended and jabbed them into Fane's solo plexus. After training in hand to hand combat with Lance Ash knew all the soft spots to strike on the human body which was how he was able to defeat May, he also knew it wouldn't have taken much to bring down Fane.
Fane tried his best to remain standing but Ash's strike had taken all the air out of his system, he placed one hand on the arm of his chair and tried to straighten himself but the point was mute. His previous comment was a bluff, he had no control over Groudon and no way to stop Ash now.
"Sit down and shut up." Ash said calmly.
"I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to persuade you however, your scientists might have a little more sense." Ash spoke as he turned around and looked at Lund who was trembling on the floor. Ash then turned and addressed his Pokémon.
"Sceptile and Garbite round up all the guards, Charizard your on over watch, Greninja stay very close to their leader." Ash instructed.
Sceptile and Garbite started dragging the unconscious men under the trees, Charizard watched everyone from above and Greninja jumped on top of the chair Fane was leaning against, a single water shuriken in hand.
"You're the one who's operating this thing which means you know how to turn it off don't you?" Ash addressed Professor Lund.
"I-I'm not telling you anything." Lund stuttered.
"It's either that or I'll have my Charizard melt this thing into a pile of molten scrap." Ash threatened.
"That won't work, I designed it so that even if it were destroyed its hold over any Pokémon wouldn't be broken." Lund informed him despite still being shaken up.
"How do I know you're not bluffing?" Ash spoke sternly.
"You're welcome to try it, but then you'll lose your last chance at stopping Groudon and Kyogre." Fane interrupted, a large grin on his face making Ash even more frustrated.
"Fine then! I'll just keep hitting buttons until it shuts down." Ash declared as he marched over to one of the control panels and scanned the multiple buttons.
"What? You can't do that you could order one of them to blast this entire area to pieces if you hit the wrong button!" Lund objected.
Ash was growing frustrated after taking New Magma down so quickly and yet still unable to stop what they were doing. As he looked up he saw Kyogre ramming Groudon's chest before it responded by hammering its claws into Kyogre's head pushing it beneath the waves. Groudon held Kyogre down until the water around its feet began to freeze. Realizing Kyogre was using Ice Beam at point blank Groudon grabbed the water type's head with both hands and flicked it backwards. While Groudon tried to break free of the ice Kyogre charged up a Hyper Beam, Groudon responded by charging up his own. The two fired their attacks at the same time each beam passed the other and blasted across their bodies sending both of them backwards into the ocean. Ash had had enough of the destruction, he grabbed Lund's collar and pulled him in closer.
"Well you better tell me how to turn this thing off or I won't be able to restrain myself." Ash threatened.
"Lund if you take Groudon away from us I guarantee you will regret it." Fane threatened despite Greninja lowering his shuriken closer to his throat.
"I thought I told you to shut up!" Ash shouted.
Ash turned back to the scientist in his hand when he noticed something was off. At first he noticed the wind had calmed, next he noticed the heat of the sun had died down. Ash looked out to the sea and saw the twisters had almost all disappeared, and rays of light could be seen piercing through the clouds.
"The weather is dying down?" Ash questioned making both Lund and Fane follow his line of sight.
Ash then looked at the two fighting giants, or at least the two formally fighting giants. Both Groudon and Kyogre had stopped their battle and were now looking in the same direction. It was the direction they faced that made something in Ash's mind click. They were staring at the sky, and as Ash peered up through the clearing clouds he cursed himself for forgetting the most important part of the Hoenn regions legacy.
Something slithered through the sky, like a giant weightless serpent descending towards the earth. Ash had seen this creature before in an epic battle against Deoxys many years ago. There was no mistaking what it was or why it came, answering its ancient call to stop the battle between Groudon and Kyogre once again.
The legendry Rayquaza had arrived.
The giant dragon descended towards the scene of destruction, its long green body moving fast and easily despite its great size. Groudon and Kyogre watched as it drew near, either sensing Rayquaza's presence or knowing that he was coming because there weather affects had been nullified because of its ability Air Lock.
Rayquaza stopped about fifty meters above where Groudon and Kyogre stood coiling its body slightly and staring down at the two of them as if it's mere presence would quell the fighting. Ash watched the suddenly completely silent scene in absolute amazement, never had he dreamed he would see Hoenn's weather trio all in the same place. Such huge powerful creature's right in front of him each with the strength to create or destroy the world around them, it had to be the most intimidating sight he had ever seen.
Rayquaza pulled back its head as if launching an attack but instead let out an explosive roar that rippled the very air in front of it. The sound was so loud a shock wave blasted over Ash and Team Magma forcing him to cover his ears but it did little to ease the pain of such a powerful booming roar. When Rayquaza finally finished its display of strength it coiled its body back up and waited for Groudon and Kyogre to respond. The two gazed back up at Rayquaza no one could have known if they would have retreated or continued fighting, but they had no control over their bodies now. Together they both charged up their Hyper Beams in their mouths and fired at the dragon above them. Rayquaza evaded both beams of energy and had had enough, it had tried a display of strength to break up the fight and now it was about to show the full extent of its power. Charging up its own Hyper Beam Rayquaza aimed between the two legendries below taking its time to build up as much power as possible before firing a giant radiating beam of energy. As it hit the ocean the explosion burst outwards the size of the blast radius was equal to that of the one created when Kyogre's and Groudon's Hyper Beam's collided at the start of the fight. It engulfed both Pokémon and sent them flying backwards crashing into the waves.
Ash couldn't believe how much power Rayquaza was capable of producing, it wasn't even a direct hit and it had enough power to knock Groudon off its feet. The blast wave of the attack swept across the area bringing Ash back to his senses, this situation kept on going from bad to worse.
"Hey why did Groudon and Kyogre attack Rayquaza? Shouldn't they still be battling each other?" Ash asked the stunned scientist next to him.
"When we ordered Groudon to attack Kyogre originally the order we imputed was for it to attack the biggest threat in the area and when we struck Kyogre with the same beam that order translated to it as well. Now that Rayquaza is here they are both following orders to attack the biggest threat in the area." Lund explained.
"Dammit I doubt Rayquaza cares either way, being attacked like that is going to infuriate it." Ash stated as he looked back over the chaos.
Groudon pulled itself up energy pooling in front of its mouth ready for a Solar Beam though without the intense sunlight it took longer to charge. Once it was ready Groudon swallowed the ball of energy aimed it at Rayquaza and fired the huge blinding light. Rayquaza was a lot quicker than either of legendries below it and easily avoided the Solar Beam. Immediately after Rayquaza released an Ice Beam attack sending multiple blue beams at Groudon who covered its face for protection. This had little effect for as the beams hit Groudon's entire body was covered in ice, leaving the giant Pokémon completely frozen.
Rayquaza didn't had time to rest as Kyogre was charging up its Origin Pulse, aiming multiple beams of light at the airborne dragon. Rayquaza turned to see Kyogre releasing a volley of attacks that raced towards it at incredible speed. Just when it seemed they were going to hit their target Rayquaza burst forward at lightning speed, its movements so fast it was almost untraceable. Rayquaza got past all of Kyogre's attacks and slammed into the water type the speed it had generated sent Kyogre flying back fifty metre's before it crashed back into the waves and suck below the surface.
Ash recognised the attack as Extreme Speed and Rayquaza used it as an evasive move and then an attack. He kept getting caught up in the battle but without any knowledge of how this machine worked Ash's options were limited. He certainly didn't want to rush in to try and break up the fight with the risk of being caught in the crossfire.
"Lund aim for Rayquaza and bring it under our control." Fane spoke up.
Ash turned around in shock, had the man gone mad? He was about to try and make him shut when Lund spoke up.
"Sir we can barely give commands to the other legendries, there's no way the system will be able to handle it." Lund objected.
"Then forget about the others with Rayquaza under our control we don't need Groudon anymore. With the master of the sky under our control we can do anything we like, no other force would have such a power, we would be unstoppable." Fane proclaimed.
"But Groudon was the goal from the start and Rayquaza can't raise the land we need and-" Lund continued to object till Fane shot him down.
"Dammit man this is an order! If you don't comply I will make sure you never set foot in a laboratory ever again you hear me!" Fane threatened.
Ash could have put his own word in but he could tell that what Fane was saying was too insane even for Lund to agree with. Ash also knew if Lund wasn't on his side this conflict would continue for a lot longer. Lund looked between his leader and Ash, the sounds of the weather trio battling behind him. He knew that the reason that everything had gotten so out of hand was mostly his fault the question was how to fix it. In his mind there was only one option left, he turned to Ash feeling that his eyes had been opened.
"Pull those three levers down from top to bottom, that will turn the machine off and break that hold it has on Kyogre and Groudon." Lund told Ash.
"What do you think you're doing Lund didn't you hear what I said?" Fane shouted.
"I'm not going to put myself above all the lives of people and Pokémon who will be affected if this madness continues, sorry boss but I won't allow you to keep pushing this any longer." Lund declared.
"Dammit I'll-" Fane tried to let out before Greninja hit him on the back of the head knocking him out cold.
Ash got to the first lever before looking back at Lund. "Thank you." He said to the professor getting a nod in response. Ash started pulling down the first lever but it was engineered in a way to move slowly a fact that was made more frustrating with Rayquaza slowing moving in on Groudon who was breaking out of the ice surrounding it.
Groudon had broken off the ice around its head and upper body and was charging up a Hyper Beam in its mouth, as it fired it still wasn't able to land a hit on Rayquaza who twisted in the sky and avoided the attack completely. Rayquaza then moved forward and rammed Groudon's chest and pushed it backwards, Groudon reacted by grabbing onto Rayquaza's shoulders and pushed back. What neither of them noticed was Kyogre rising above the surface behind them, seeing the opportunity Kyogre fired its Ice Beam attack hoping to get both of them in one shot. The blue projectiles of ice blasted forward, by sheer luck Groudon pulled Rayquaza down in front of itself leaving the dragon to take the full force of Kyogre's attack.
Rayquaza was caught off guard by the attack roaring as the super effective move hit across its long body leaving small sections covered in ice. Rayquaza pushed away from Groudon and momentarily recovered. Groudon was about to attack when Rayquaza lifted its head up and roared in anger, the yellow rings on its body glowed brighter followed by its whole body becoming covered in a faint red aura. Rayquaza turned to face Kyogre, its eyes full of rage it then raced towards the water type which almost seemed stunned by the fearsome creature charging at it. Rayquaza slashed across Kyogre from one side then looped around and slashed the water type again hitting with a barrage of strikes. When Rayquaza ceased its attack it flew higher into the sky and released a mighty roar but this one seemed to be fuelled by a deep inner rage.
Ash pulled down the last of the levers then immediately gazed out to see if Groudon was released from the machines hold. Groudon lurched forward and the red in its eyes faded, it hung its head low recovering from the stress the machine had put it under. Ash then checked Kyogre who also appeared to have been released from New Magma's grip. Ash let out a sigh of relief he had done it, the crisis was over.
Rayquaza however continued to growl and wail in the air, as Ash looked up he could see the golden pattern on its body was glowing and its eyes were now glowing red, something was wrong. Rayquaza thrashed its head around before releasing what appeared to be a completely random burst of Hyper Beam into the sky, then another into the ocean which veered off hitting the shore shattering it into rubble.
"Rayquaza that's enough!" Ash shouted but he was too far away for the dragon to hear him.
"What's wrong with it?" Ash asked as Rayquaza fired off random attacks.
"Rayquaza was hit with an Ice Beam before and then it attacked Kyogre with an attack that looked a lot like Outrage." Lund informed Ash.
"Outrage, dammit Rayquaza must be furious and now it's confused after using Outrage." Ash concluded the situation taking yet another turn for the worse.
It was then that Rayquaza started to coil up its long body, energy seemed to ripple off its scales and the golden markings on its body suddenly turned to the same red as the one in its eyes. A deep groan could be heard from the legendry and the air around it began to warp but it wasn't just the air immediately around Rayquaza, it was the entire sky. Ash could only watch as Rayquaza's rage began to affect the weather, but instead of clearing it Rayquaza turned it into something far more sinister then either Groudon or Kyogre could had accomplished.
Letting out a final piercing roar the entire sky turned a sinister red, like a blood red sunset but far more menacing. As if a giant bloodshot cloud had covered the sky casting a hypnotic shadow over the land, this power was the reason Rayquaza was the weather trio's master.
"What-what is this?" Ash stuttered staring up at the sky that seemed like it was its own living thing.
"I can't more, I can't stop looking at it." Ash stated as some deep untouched fear began to build up inside of him and take over his body.
Whatever Rayquaza had done to the sky it was foreboding, intoxicating and hypnotic all at the same time. All he could do was stare at it like it was pulling him in until someone's hand grabbed his shoulder.
"Ash snap out of it." An old rusty voice called out to him.
Ash closed his eyes and pulled his head into his hands, he felt himself slowly recover from whatever had just happened. As he opened his eyes doing his best not to look back up he saw who it was that snapped him out of his trance.
"Drake is that you?" Ash questioned seeing the Hoenn Elite Four member standing in front of him.
"It's me alright, I got your distress call a while back and hurried here and I can see why now." The elderly ship captain stated as he looked at the sea of carnage in front of him.
"I don't need to know all the details, all that matters now is that we stop this situation from getting any worse." Drake stated firmly.
"Drake do you know what is happening with the sky? Rayquaza went crazy and then suddenly the whole sky went like this, I've never seen anything like it." Ash stated.
"Actually I do have an idea of what it is." Drake told the young trainer.
"There is a single record of an event just like this one, on one of the times that Rayquaza had to break up a fight between Groudon and Kyogre many centuries ago. In an act of fury Rayquaza used Outrage and lost control of its power and turned the sky blood red, it was simply named 'Blood Sky'." Drake revealed.
"How come I've never heard of it?" Ash questioned.
"Because there was only one record of it believed to be the lone survivor of the incident, and so with no other evidence to support it that report was passed on as a little know legend. But as you can see it's very real." Drake concluded.
"One survivor, does that mean." Ash started but Drake finished his sentence.
"Yes Ash there was only one survivor because the entire area that witnessed that event was wiped out." The Dragon trainer revealed.
"This is way worse then I though, how are we going to combat that sort of destructive potential?" Ash asked as Rayquaza let off another rage fuelled roar.
"There is only one thing we can do and it's never been done before." Drake stated as he looked up at Rayquaza and the eerie sky above it.
"And what's that exactly?" Ash asked.
Drake turned and looked Ash straight in the eye. "We have to knock Rayquaza out."